Catheters are tubular medical devices for insertion into canals, vessels, passageways, or body cavities; often to permit the injection or withdrawal of fluid or to keep a passage open. While catheters vary in size, shape, and function, they frequently consist of a very long, flexible, and thin tubular portion connected to a wider, ridged head portion. The tubular portion may be a meter or longer in length, and only a fraction of an inch in diameter. The head may be, for example, an inch or two in length and a half inch in diameter.
The tubular portion of the catheter is usually hollow, and may have one or more lumens running along its entire length. The lumen or lumens function as a way of inserting various devices into the catheter. For example, catheters frequently travel along a guidewire running through one of the lumens. Alternatively, the lumens may receive mechanical devices and control wires for removing clots within blood vessels, for assisting in surgical operations, for retrieving tissue samples, etc.
Due to the extremely fine and often delicate nature of the lumens, as well as the slight tolerances associated with many of the applications to which catheters are applied, catheters must necessarily be handled, stored, and shipped with great care. Mechanical or chemical abrasion to any portion of the exterior of the catheter can cause problems to the subsequent use of the catheter. Also, deformation of the catheter can be a problem if it results in leaving the catheter damaged or transformed in any way. Thus, significant bending of the catheter should normally be avoided during the storage of a catheter to avoid any "memory" of the bends or any pinched lumens. Such binding should also be avoided while installing or removing a catheter from a storage or shipping packaging.
In addition to having a head portion and a tubular portion, many catheters have sophisticated tail ends opposite the head portion. These ends may contain, for example, balloons for use in angeoplasty operations. Thus, it is also necessary that the end of a catheter holder accommodate the tail end of a catheter.
Prior art catheter holders include formed plastic trays having a groove for retaining a catheter, along with a series of rigid tabs designed to hold the catheter within the groove. However, such designs are problematic in that the catheter must often be somewhat deformed or bent in order to be implaced behind the tabs. Since the tabs are substantially rigid in nature, they do not flex out of the way of the catheter and do not provide significant downward force to retain the catheter in place. It is also often true that the groove is configured to retain only a specific size catheter tube. Thus, only a specific diameter will adequately fit within, and be retained by, the groove.
Another type of catheter holder that has been used in the past is constructed from thin cardboard and includes tabs that are cut into the cardboard and retain the catheter. However, this design also requires that the catheter be slightly deformed since the tabs are not lined up with one another. This prior art holder also lacks significant rigidity in the base, and does not contain any additional support for the tube other than the series of cut tabs. Such catheter holders can result in undesirable sliding or other movement of the catheter during shipping.
Thus, a need exists for an improved catheter holder that securely retains a catheter during storage, shipping, and prior to use in a patient.